


For the Best

by Rowanmoonlight



Series: Whumptober 2020 [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Black Family-centric (Harry Potter), Child Abuse, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Muteness, Regulus Black Angst, Regulus Black Feels, Regulus Black Whump, Selective Muteness, Walburga Black's A+ Parenting, Whump, Whumptober 2020, Young Regulus Black, Young Sirius Black
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 05:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26880112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rowanmoonlight/pseuds/Rowanmoonlight
Summary: Whumptober day 6- Please...- No More/Stop, PleaseEleven year old Sirius Black comes home for Christmas rebellious and disrespectful. Regulus hears him being punished and can’t let it happen, but their mother has a lesson for him too. Heirs are valuable, but the spare doesn’t need to speak.
Relationships: Regulus Black & Sirius Black, Regulus Black & Sirius Black & Walburga Black
Series: Whumptober 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956064
Kudos: 74





	For the Best

**Author's Note:**

> Man, the Black brothers have excellent whump potential. This won’t be the last of Regulus this month, because he’s one of my favorites and he’s so fun to hurt :)

The Black household was not a happy one. It wasn’t always that way of course. Two brothers used to chase each other around, laughing and stumbling before lessons. A husband and wife used to kiss each other and ruffle their sons’ hair. Then Sirius turned eleven and was clothed in red and gold instead of green and silver.

It was Christmas break and Sirius was home and Regulus wanted to be anywhere else. He had spent the past two days shouting at their mother and generally causing a ruckus. At the family dinner he had embarrassed and shamed them all. Mother had, in retaliation, praised Regulus’s studiousness and dedication to the family. The studiousness that came from a need to catch up to Sirius and the dedication that stemmed from the fear that came with being the ‘spare’. Mother had never cared to show off Regulus before Sirius started acting out. The expectant eyes made him feel sick.

Finally the dinner ended and the family left and the eyes were gone. But Sirius stayed and so did the shouting. Mother was angry. She was always angry nowadays and Regulus had stopped coming out of his room except for lessons and meals. His room and the childish sign in it offered a false sense of security, of privacy. But nothing was private in a house full of portraits that spied on you and mirrors that reported back to your father.

“You’re wrong! Both of you!”

“How dare you side with blood traitors and half bloods! They are filth undeserving of your loyalty!”

“They’re my friends and they care about me!” Sirius bitterly muttered, “Unlike you.”

Regulus could imagine his mother in that moment, drawing herself up straighter and stiffer, eyes cold stone. “I have cared for you every day since the day you were born, I have raised and nourished you and you throw it back in my face.”

“But did you love me?”

“Of course I love you! You are my son! But I will not tolerate this insolence!” Her voice rose again and Regulus jerked towards the edge of his bed before curling back into himself. He was too old to hide under the bed now, no matter how much it would dampen the sound.

But he was on his feet, need to hide forgotten as he heard a scream. The blood rushing in his ears deafened him, heartbeat as loud as any shouting. Sirius was hurt. And mother was the one doing it. Regulus couldn’t believe it, mother would never hurt her perfect son, right?  _But he wasn’t perfect anymore._ His traitorous mind whispered.  _If she’ll hurt Sirius, then why not you? The spare is always less valuable than the heir._

Barely recognizing what he was doing, Regulus ran down the hall towards the stairs. The portraits of sneering ancestors blurred together, cruel words lost to the thumping of bare feet on carpeted wood. Sirius screamed again and Regulus threw himself down the stairs.

Just a little farther. Just a little closer.

Regulus flung the door open, “Stop!”

Mother whirled around to face him. His red face and abrupt arrival seemed very prominent in that moment. He wasn’t acting like a proper member of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. “Regulus, my son, why have you interrupted me?”

He tried to open his mouth and speak. To claim that hurting Sirius was wrong. But the words were stuck in his throat and he could only stand, frozen. “Well? If you have no answer for me then perhaps you need to be taught a lesson as well. It would be a shame if you went the same way as your brother.”

Scared eyes flicked to Sirius’s crumpled form. He was always so big, so proud, so unyielding. Now he just looked small. Sirius’s head lifted from the floor and he gave a small, pained smile. “It’s alright Reg. I’m okay, you can go.”

Tears were forming in Regulus’s eyes and he furiously held them back. Crying was not befitting of a member of the Black family. Sirius was always trying to pretend he was fine, to protect Regulus.  _Doesn’t he know that he’s just making it worse?_

“I- I apologize mother. But does Sirius truly need to be punished? He has just been influenced and manipulated by the Gryffindors, it is not his fault.” Regulus winced, his mother would take that as him doubting her. Sirius’s brave face melted into one of outrage, he never did understand manipulation.

Walburga Black took her second born’s face in her palm. “Oh, my son. Always believing the best of your brother. But you shouldn’t question my judgement, shouldn’t try to outwit me. I love you, but you must learn as well.”

Her wand was digging into his throat, the sharp tip against vulnerable skin. Right above the vocal chords. She murmured a spell he couldn’t hear and his throat was on fire.

He dropped to the ground, clawing at his throat. It was burning, was going to burn from the inside out. The more he struggled the more the invisible flames spread, reaching up into his mouth and stinging his tongue and down into his lungs which filled with nonexistent smoke. He opened his mouth to scream, to let the fire out, to inhale refreshing cold air, but it wouldn’t open.

He writhed on the floor, scratching and tearing at his throat. Finally he managed to wrench his mouth open and whispered a strangled, “Mother,  _please_ .”

She tutted and he tried again. “I’m- I’m sorry. Please.”

The fire was gone. He would have cried in relief was tears were already streaming down his face. His mouth opened to speak, to apologize once more for disrupting her and for crying and for being a disgrace, but no words came. He tried again. No words came.

Panicked eyes turned on his mother but she just smiled sadly. “It’s for the best, my son. It’s not forever, just long enough for you to learn your lesson.”

Walburga Black left the room, left her son, without a second thought. Sirius sat up, legs quivering, and made his way over to his collapsed brother. “God, Reg. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. God, you fucking idiot. Why’d you do that?”

_Because you’re my brother. Because I’ll always try to save you, even though you’ve never saved me._ But Regulus could not speak. Could only flinch away as Sirius went to wrap him in a hug. Maybe that was when their relationship started to crack and break apart. Or maybe it had always been broken, in that house of spies and fear.

And Regulus was always afraid, so unlike his brother. So when his throat didn’t work and his skin still burned, he ran. He ran and hid under his bed like a child again and sobbed silently until he fell asleep. He stayed silent for another month. Then the spell wore off and he still couldn’t speak, the words kept choking him. That is, until Sirius came home for the summer and the house was filled with screams again.


End file.
